Coroner's Finding: Benneworth, Anthony John
Deceased
Anthony John Benneworth
Demographics
67y, male
Date of death
2018-03-10
Finding date
2019-10-11
Cause of death
Drowning
AI-generated summary
Anthony Benneworth, aged 67, drowned following a boating accident at Ansons Bay, Tasmania. The vessel capsized after taking on water through poorly maintained inspection covers and unplugged drain holes in the outboard motor pod. The bilge pump was inoperable. Although Mr Benneworth was wearing a life jacket, he was in acute panic when entering the water and failed to manually inflate it, possibly confusing it with the self-inflating jacket he used at other locations. He had not refreshed his knowledge of the inflation procedure before the trip. The death was preventable through proper vessel maintenance, functional bilge pumps, and pre-departure familiarisation with life jacket inflation procedures. His companion Mr Long drowned without wearing a life jacket despite being told to put one on.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Clinical conditions
Contributing factors
- Vessel poorly maintained with missing outboard pod inspection cover
- Port side outboard pod inspection cover not sealed
- Outboard pod not sealed from main bilge with unplugged drain holes
- Inoperable bilge pump
- Vessel unstable due to foam buoyancy material dislodgement
- Acute panic state preventing proper life jacket inflation
- Lack of familiarity with manual inflation mechanism of life jacket
- Similar appearance between manual and self-inflating jackets causing confusion
- Failure to refresh knowledge of life jacket inflation procedure before trip
- Significant underlying ischaemic heart disease
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